"Yet you still haven't resolved your most pressing crisis."
Sonia rested her chin on her hand. "From what you've said, a lot of people are bound to die in the Blood Moon Trial on the twenty-seventh. What if you get picked for the roster? I can't shake the feeling it's some sort of omen—the more thorough your plan gets, the harder it will be for you to live until the day you put it into action."
Naturally, she hadn't actually stretched her long legs over. Lying down on this skiff wasn't comfortable anyway—it wasn't a bed, after all. She had simply been seized by a playful impulse to tease the Watcher, testing the limits of his tolerance toward her.
The result had naturally been very promising.
Soon, very soon. The day she overturned the Watcher's dominance and turned him into her personal mount was not far off!
Yaxiu naturally had no idea what dirty little schemes were running through Sonia's mind. His eyes remained fixed on the Void Realm Map displayed on the light screen as he replied, "Then we trigger the plan directly and stage a massive prison riot."
"Without a boat, though—"
"Even without a boat, there are other ways to cross the swarm of finger sharks in Shattered Lake. It'll just take a bit of bloodshed. Actually, the biggest trouble with not having a boat is that we can't make landfall safely. When the time comes, a hunter force will definitely be waiting along the shore to hunt down the escaping death row convicts. Escaping will be practically impossible, but that's still better than sitting around waiting to die in the Blood Moon Trial."
Sonia nodded. That really was the best approach under the worst-case scenario. Still, her impression of the Watcher was refreshed a little. Because of how he had pouted the night before, she had assumed the Watcher was delicate and indecisive, never expecting that when the time came to be decisive and ruthless, he wouldn't hesitate in the slightest.
For all that Sonia could talk big in front of the Watcher, if she were the one locked up in Shattered Lake Prison—facing an apparatus of violence on an isolated island, heavily guarded and controlled by chips—she might not truly be able to steel her heart to break out, much less plan a riot.
Escaping prison was not just escaping prison; it was standing against the machinery of state, defying the ruling class. Even if an escape succeeded, what awaited the escapee would only be endless manhunts and pursuit. Every time he opened his eyes, he would face ubiquitous malice, without a single safe haven in the vast city to take him in.
Compared to death, that suffocating pressure might well be even more terrifying.
Yet although the Watcher sometimes revealed a softer, weaker side, he harbored no ambiguity whatsoever when it came to breaking out of prison. It was not as if he were ignorant of the Blood Moon Country's power—he had been captured by Bloodmad Hunters himself, after all. He was even more aware of the Blood Moon Country's iron grip over society, and knew full well that an insecure, hand-to-mouth existence awaited him after escaping.
Yet in his words, he had never shown the slightest trace of fear toward the Blood Moon Country.
Sonia could only attribute it to the confidence brought by a "recovering powerhouse," or perhaps...
He was simply irreverent by nature.
"There's a Fishcleaver Dragon up ahead, probably in its growth stage. Are we taking it?"
"We are! I thought of a brilliant opening move—it might even stun the Fishcleaver Dragon in one blow."
As the skiff parted the white mist, Sonia soon picked up fragmented sensations: the sound of razor-sharp fish scales scraping over sand, the sound of the ichthyosaur blowing bubbles, the scent of ocean waves... Although she couldn't identify knowledge creatures from a distance like the Watcher, the Expulsion Secret Poison allowed Sonia to gather biological information on knowledge creatures through the white mist, letting her prepare for battle in advance. Her right hand lightly gripped the hilt of her sword.
"Huh?"
The skiff suddenly took a sharp turn, instantly draining all the momentum Sonia had built up. Displeased, she asked, "What are you doing?"
There was a hint of excitement in Yaxiu's voice. "I found a very strange place behind the Fishcleaver Dragon. It might be a miracle island."
On the Void Realm Map, he saw a radiant silver gleam shimmering to the rear right of the Fishcleaver Dragon, forming a glittering silver prompt:
"Come quickly!"
"We've finally run into a miracle island again?" Sonia straightened up. "This time we have to sweep up every single sorcery spirit! Not one gets away!"
Yet as they drew closer to the target area, both Yaxiu and Sonia sensed something was wrong—the white mist around here was as thick as milky-white milk, and visibility dropped so low that Yaxiu and Sonia couldn't even see each other on the skiff!
They felt more and more knowledge flooding into their consciousness. It was fine for Yaxiu, but flashes of inspiration burst across Sonia's mind. She felt the bottlenecks she had encountered in swordsmanship breaking through one after another, rapidly resolving all her current perplexities—all that remained was to return to reality, practice them, and confirm her insights!
Sailing through the Void Realm and absorbing the white mist naturally increased faction experience. Although both Yaxiu and Sonia had already unfurled their Silver Wings and could no longer condense sorcery power, the sorcery factions they had not yet broken through to the gold rank could still gain experience from absorbing the mist.
However, this experience from the white mist was usually imperceptible, often taking effect only when a sorcerer fought or conducted research. A mist this dense, allowing a sorcerer to break through obstacle after obstacle in succession, was almost comparable to an Experience Orb!
*Thunk.*
The moment the skiff came to a halt, the white mist before them parted with a rush, revealing the small island hidden within.
In the next second, Yaxiu and Sonia's expressions changed drastically!
If there had been knowledge creatures, sorcerer projections, or other sorcerers on the island, the two of them wouldn't have been so astonished.
Yet what met their eyes were two chairs!
Two!
The two exchanged a glance. Yaxiu instinctively lowered his voice and asked, "Do you know what place this is?"
"No idea." Sonia felt a bit intimidated as well. "How about we leave?"
It was only natural for them to be afraid. If there had been only one chair, they certainly wouldn't have thought much of it. But two chairs meant this island knew two people were coming!
The problem was that, apart from the two of them, every sorcerer in the entire Void Realm traveled alone!
It was like traveling in an unfamiliar city and suddenly picking up a hundred-dollar bill, only to look closely and find written upon it: *Hello Yaxiu, go spend this.*
Anyone would feel chilled and terrified at the thought of being watched by an unknown entity.
Yaxiu glanced at the Void Realm Map again, confirmed it said "Come quickly," and steeled his resolve to go ashore. "Don't be afraid. Worst-case scenario, we give up our first blood in the Void Realm. We've both unfurled our Silver Wings anyway; dying won't cost us much."
"What if it's another guaranteed death trap like the Expulsion Secret Poison?"
"Trust me!"
Seeing Sonia still hesitating timidly, Yaxiu pulled her straight onto the island—he was scared too, after all, and needed someone to go down with him.
The chairs were very ordinary chairs. They exchanged a look, took a deep breath, and sat down together.
There was no particular sensation, nor did the chairs sprout tentacles to bind them.
A moment later, nudged by a sudden premonition, they looked down and discovered that, at some point, a sheet of paper had been placed on their laps.
The moment they picked up the paper, the rules of the game became clear to them: Answer the questions that appear. Fail to answer correctly, and the game ends immediately. Answer correctly, and you may continue answering. If the number of correct answers is one or more, the respondent earns the right to ask a question.
When Sonia looked at the paper, several lines of text surfaced upon it:
"Question (Single Choice): What is the fundamental reason Sword Princess and the Watcher fell out?"
"1. Sword Princess despises the Watcher's cold indifference."
"2. The Watcher considers Sword Princess beyond his control."
"3. An unfair division of spoils."
"4. All of the above."
Chapter 109